Friday, February 6, 2009

Orange Cornmeal Cake (Everyday Food)

My Friday so far.Get up late.But want to bake.Check my Delicious account for items tagged “quick.”Find this recipe.Make and bake.Shower and get ready.Pull cake out of oven.Look at clock. Eeck!Put the hot cake on cooling rack in my car.Drive to work.Take some photos in the library (sorry for the bad lighting – it was raining outside). Thanks to the Children's Librarian for letting me borrow a piece of blue construction paper for the background!

I used navel or Valencia oranges (can never tell them apart) from my neighbor’s yard (left) and some California grown Cara Cara Oranges (right). Have you had the Cara Cara? They are one of my favorites.

Granulated sugar tops the cake

This cake is super duper simple (one bowl, by hand, no melting, creaming, or getting anything to room temp). It uses olive oil so it’s dairy free (but does contain eggs). You can use either dry white wine or orange juice (I used fresh squeezed orange juice). And, as I joked with a co-worker, it has cornmeal...and that's a vegetable! :)

The only thing I might do different is bake it in a springform instead of a regular cake pan. You have 1/3 cup sugar on top and need to invert it. The springform would make that less messy. Cara Cara orange section garnish the cake.

You inspired me... I made this for a friend's birthday tonight! With blood oranges and whole wheat flour... (since that's all I had). Made for somewhat of a muddy looking cake, but oh yum. This one is definitely a keeper. :)